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Since I was born in 1985, I will either be dead or too old to give a damn by that time because the final chapter in my life would be coming to a close very soon.
Yet more "global warming" fear mongering money making tripe. Don't these "scientists" have anything better to do than to brainwash people, North Korea style?
Since I was born in 1985, I will either be dead or too old to give a damn by that time because the final chapter in my life would be coming to a close very soon.
IF I am still alive by then, I will be cold all the time anyway so it will only feel like 80 to me lol
I agree and I honestly don't see how 2.8 degrees can possibly make that much of a difference.
If the temperature change was isolated to the American South, I doubt it would make much difference (except it would rain a lot more and be considerably more humid - essentially the region would become a rainforest). If there's a 2.5 degree change worldwide, you'll definitely see a monstrous difference. But, by the time it got there worldwide, there'd be nothing anyone could do about it. I love how science gets politicized and endlessly debated by people who have no clue how it actually works. You disagree with global climate change? Too bad. It's happening pretty rapidly with or without your consent.
Location: somewhere close to Tampa, but closer to the beach
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Interesting thread...which does bear watching as it unfolds..whether or not the average does climb by the possible amount suggested in the report.
Ive also seen similar reports and studies for other regions of the country as well..and, while im not 100% convinced that the rises in average temperatures observed say in the past 3 or 4 decades is "all" the result of man's activities..something is happening on a global scale...
Just this past weekend i stumbled upon a study which suggests that the arid Subtropical belt has expanded both north and south from the Equator some 150-180 miles within a 25-30 year period and that it may continue to expand further..Now while im certainly no expert, i can definitely tell anyone who'd ask that the winters in this part of CA have warmed in the 34 years ive been around..
Even though there have been years which have seen significant freeze episodes, on average, it rarely gets all that cold (below 28f) all that often..In fact, while we saw roughly a week of 32 or below this past winter locally, In 07' we saw maybe one or two days of frost..and this past winter, we experienced nearly two weeks of temps hanging out in the 70's..in the middle of January!!..even as a kid, i never recall weather like that..
Numerous people ive had discussions with where the weather has come up have agreed that our part of the state is gradually taking on a more Southern-CA weather pattern..That is warmer winters, and hotter summers..
As both an avid gardener and an evolving horticulturist, ive already seen some changes in what is being grown here both in the garden and more importantly, on a commercial scale..
Fruit tree varieties which were once the areas largest industry have become more difficult to fruit in the garden as the number of "chill" hours required by those specific cultivars has steadily fallen..
Add to this the increasing reports of successful trials of more "tropical"-type fruits both locally and through out the state..
While i welcome this..im sure there are plenty of commercial operations looking at their orchards or vineyards pondering to themselves whether or not to move their endevers further north..
Still, there are others looking to bring new offerings to the table..There was a time that Mangoes were not planted anywhere in California..Now they are orchards coming into production in the Imperial Valley..
How does this relate to the south??..simple..and i'll reference a popular street tree and a rare Florida native as two examples..
To start with, If our region is already experiencing a general temperature rise, then surely areas like the Gulf coast and Florida must really be experiencing this as well..
Ive heard talk in some other forms i regularly check in with that central Florida's weather patterns are already resembling those observed to be "so typical" to areas further south in past decades..
Ive also heard that as a whole, the entire Gulf coast region and many areas further north considered "the south" have seen a significant rise in average winter night time lows..and a substantial reduction of recorded "frost/freeze days"....like 20 days in spots if i read the study correctly.
Ive also seen countless discussions in certain plant-specific forums of people in northern FL and in other areas along the Gulf currently trialing a myriad of subtropicals never successfully grown in those locales in the past.. Heck, ive even heard of people in central Oklahoma trialing some very once-unheard (regionally) species of palms.
And while the specific species are extremely hardy types..just the thought of any sort of palm growing out on the American prairie amongst some seriously confused Buffalo sounds more like some wild wanderlust..rather then a fathomable possibility..
Now, the day i start hearing reports of gardeners succeeding with Jacarandas outdoors in say Dallas..then there will be no question in my mind that the weather patterns have definitely changed significantly..
And just for the curious, this spectacular subtropical can take temps to around 25 or so with mature specimens surviving lower exposure..and that would include our coldest recorded low of 19..if not some unreported backyards briefly touching 17 or maybe even 15 in some of the outlying areas back in 1990..and the area has grown significantly since then..
So, IF..and i say if..the Dallas area of Texas did experience enough of a weather shift..it is plausible that this tree might succeed there..
Lastly, what i find interesting is ,as i believe ive referenced to in past posts here and there..the south used to be warmer and perhaps? drier? sometime in the past..In fact, the now rare Florida Scrub Jay is the isolated remnant of a time when the south was dominated by a scrub-type plant community from California to Georgia..where it dominated
At some point, the climate changed and drove this plant community out of most of the south and southwest or broke it up enough that the Scrub jay disappeared over much of it's range..ending up where it lives presently..in Florida and here in CA.. Like everything else history has taught us, the weather patterns swing back and forth..and i don't doubt that for instance, the thorn-scrub type of landscape which was once present in the California landscape..and is currently more common in central and southern Mexico, will one day migrate back to where it once spent many a decade..beside the Golden Gate..
For the Gulf coast, a look at the present landscape of the Yucatan, Belize and some of Caribbean..these areas might offer clues as to what your grand children might observe in the future..sped up my man or not..
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